Chapter XIV: Remedies (3)

Railroad companies should be compelled to discard the pass as a courtesy as well as a consideration. The giving of passes under the guise of mileage books, or tickets for pretended or unnecessary services, is very pernicious and should be prohibited. Such a reform would soon enable them to offer low fares to all. An employe may be furnished free transportation while actually engaged in the business of his company, and it should be made the duty of the State and National commissions to make proper regulations governing such free transportation of employes. Half-fare tickets for adults should also be abolished. The pauper ticket is given to the minister of the gospel to secure for the railroads the influence of the pulpit, though offered under the pretense of charity or support of the church. The State should not permit the railroad companies to practice this or any other kind of charity at the expense of the general public. The railroad is a highway, and the company operating it is entitled to rates sufficient to pay operating expenses and a fair interest on the value of the property. It can therefore easily be seen that the so-called gifts show no liberality on the part of the railroad company, but are made at the expense of other people. Donations made by railroad companies should be made from the pockets of their stockholders and not from the pockets of their patrons.

All perquisites of railroad officers should be abolished. When a railway official has become so pompous and consequential that he requires a special car, it is about time to look about for his successor. If we are to have a special-car aristocracy in this country let it be supported at the expense of some other interest.

Another railroad reform is needed on this side of the Atlantic. While the great majority of railroad officials are courteous and considerate, and perform their duties in the most agreeable and acceptable manner, there are a few who do not properly appreciate the relation which they sustain to the patrons of their companies. They are inclined to forget that they are quasi-public servants, and that the public has a right to demand courteous treatment at their hands. All railroad employes should realize that their first duty is to administer to the welfare and the convenience of the public, and each one should have the full protection of the law in his efforts to do so. The American public objects much less to an inferior car than to rude treatment by the companies' agents. Railroad superintendents may justly be blamed for the incivilities of their subordinates. It is their duty to know the character of those whom they employ, and not to retain in their employ those who are derelict in their duty to the public. Nothing offends the feelings of a true American more than the display of a bureaucratic spirit on the part of public servants. Nothing more commends a line of railroad to the public than uniform painstaking kindness and courteous treatment on the part of its employes. It is made the duty of railroad employes of France "to so treat the public as if they were eager to oblige it," and the very first paragraph of the official instructions to the railroad employes of Germany enjoins them "to assume a modest and polite demeanor in their intercourse with the public." In this connection it might be stated that the second paragraph of those instructions positively forbids the acceptance of any gratuity by a railroad employe. If our American sleeping and dining-car companies would give their employes adequate compensation and then adopt and enforce the German rule concerning "tipping," their service would gain popularity and their employes self-respect.

Entrance into the railway service should be by agreement for a definite time, and dismissals and resignations should be governed by rules agreed upon by boards of commissioners and the companies.

The use of the corporation has done so much to secure for capital so large a share of the profits of industrial enterprises, and large salaries also for the officers who manage them, that laborers have been led to organize themselves into associations for like purposes, and ambitious men have not been slow in availing themselves of the advantages afforded them in this new field.

It is right and proper for laborers to organize such associations when they can do so under wise and economical management, for the purpose of securing greater intelligence, better education, higher culture, higher wages, a shorter work-day, and a general ameliorating of their condition, all of which will tend to make them more efficient workmen and also better enable them to resist the aggression of centralized wealth; for, in the absence of organization, the single-handed employe of the great modern employer is comparatively helpless. But if these organizations are allowed to be controlled by ignorant, unreasonable or designing men, who will, at trifling provocations, resort to violent and unlawful measures, they are sure to prove harmful, and a great detriment, instead of a help, to their members, and the sooner they are abandoned the better for all.

Great conflicts are sure to arise between organized capital and organized labor, and they must be settled in a reasonable way, or anarchy will prevail. They cannot be left for headstrong or inconsiderate men representing either side to determine, but the line must be drawn by the public authorities.

Each year affords accumulated evidence of the necessity of extending legal restrictions over the management of the railway business, and the law, as laid down by Judge Ricks to the Ann Arbor strikers last March, in the United States Circuit Court, at Toledo, is undoubtedly correct and will meet with general approval from the public.

He says:

"You are engaged in a service of a public character, and the
public are interested not only in the way in which you
perform your duties while you continue in that service, but
are quite as much interested in the time and circumstances
under which you quit that employment. You cannot always
choose your own time and place for terminating these
relations. If you are permitted to do so you might quit your
work at a time and place and under circumstances which would
involve irreparable damage to your employers and jeopardize
the lives of the traveling public."

Mr. Powderly, in commenting upon the above decision, does not complain of it, but says:

"The decision shows, as I have said before, that the
principle of Government ownership of the railroads is being
recognized by the courts. While the decision is apparently
against the men, it emphasizes our position that the
Government has the right to supervise the railroads. Now it
is a poor rule that won't work both ways.

"The Interstate Commerce Law was passed for the purpose of
controlling the railroads, but up to date no railroad has
paid any attention to the law. Anarchy of the worst kind has
prevailed. By that I mean a total disregard of the law, and
that is what the corporations charge against the anarchists.
The courts hold themselves in readiness to obey the will of
the corporations when a charge is made against the workmen,
but no effort is made to carry out the mandates of the law
when the provokers of strikes, the corporations, violate the
law."

There is but little doubt, if the judges of the Federal courts would show the same zeal in holding railroad managers amenable to the law as Judge Ricks has displayed in this case with the employes, they would secure increased confidence from the people in the tribunals over which they preside.

All fair-minded persons will agree that labor as well as capital must be subjected to proper restraints, and that the public will demand nothing unreasonable from either.

Accidents are too frequent upon American railroads. The reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission give the following as the numbers killed and injured during the years named:

---------+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------
| 1888 | 1889 | 1890 | 1891
|Killed. Injured|Killed. Injured|Killed. Injured|Killed. Injured
---------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Employees| 2,070 | 20,148| 1,972 | 20,028| 2,451 | 22,396| 2,660 | 26,140
Passeng's| 315 | 2,138| 310 | 2,146| 286 | 2,425| 293 | 2,972
Others | 2,897 | 3,602| 3,541 | 4,135| 3,598 | 4,206| .... | ....
---------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Total | 5,282 | 25,888| 5,823 | 26,309| 6,335 | 29,027| .... | ....
---------+---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------

For the year ending June 30, 1890, the total number of employes was 749,801. There was, therefore, one death for every 306 men employed and one injury for every 33 men employed. For the previous year one was killed for every 357 men employed, and one was injured for every 35 men employed. While trainmen represent but 20 per cent, of the total number of employes, the casualties among them represent 58 per cent. of the total number of casualties.

For the year 1888, one passenger was killed in every 1,523,133 passengers carried, and one injured in every 220,024 carried.

The corresponding rate in England for the year 1888 is one passenger killed for every 6,942,336 carried, and one injured for every 527,577 carried.

Railroads doing a large business should be compelled to adopt the most improved appliances for avoidance of accidents.

The occupation of trainmen is especially hazardous, and too long continued service should not be required, but proper intervals of rest should be allowed. It is to the want of this, undoubtedly, that a great many of the serious accidents are owing.

No more Sunday trains should be run than are absolutely necessary. Provision should be made by law to enable trainmen to procure insurance at the lowest rate possible, for indemnity against loss of health, life or limb.

It was only a few days before the great disaster occurred on the Hudson River Railroad at Hastings, over a year ago, that an announcement had been made to the public of the extreme prosperity of the road during the year. The great slaughter that occurred there is another illustration of the disregard of public duty, and another instance of the sacrifice of life and limbs of passengers and employes by a railway corporation in order to secure large dividends on watered stock. It is not only gross, but criminal neglect for a company with such an immense income not to provide greater safety appliances, and the coroner's jury in this case was too modest when it decided that the management of the road was morally responsible for the disaster.

Parliament has compelled the British railways to adopt, in the interest of the public safety, the block system and continuous brake, and great lines like the New York Central and Hudson River companies should be compelled to adopt such improvements.

The traveling public has another grievous cause for complaint. There are but few companies that make any efforts to have their trains connect with those of rival roads. On the contrary, a good deal of scheming is often done by railroad companies to so arrange their time-tables with reference to those of their rivals as to inconvenience passengers as much as possible by delays at competing points. To remedy this evil the State should require that every time-table should have the approval of proper authorities, and no change should be permitted without their approval.

Railroad companies are chartered for the purpose of promoting the public welfare, and every violation of their charter should be punished.

It should be the main object of railroad legislation to compel companies to fulfill their public obligations without depriving them of their efficiency. Above all things these companies should be stripped of the power to use their great wealth for the purposes of corruption or the attainment of political influence. Our railroads to-day probably represent no less than one-fourth of the personal property of the country, and this vast wealth is controlled by a comparatively small number of men, many of whom have in the course of time become so arrogant and despotic that they have little regard for popular rights or the expressed will of a free people.

It is reported that when, a few years ago, a representative of the press directed Mr. Vanderbilt's attention to the fact that the public disapproved of his railroad policy, the latter gave vent to his contempt for public opinion by the no less profane than laconic reply: "The public be damned." Ex-Railroad Commissioner Coffin called on one of the Goulds to urge the adoption of the automatic car-coupler and other safety appliances for the roads controlled by them. He was very curtly told that not a cent would be expended by the Gould roads for such a purpose until the West had repealed its obnoxious railroad laws. The Gould dynasty thus intends to accomplish the repeal of these laws by coercion. Railroad magnates and their lieutenants often show still greater arrogance in dealing directly with their employes.

It may be difficult for railroad managers of the present school to adapt themselves to new conditions; it may be impossible for them to understand how any other practices than those which have long been established can succeed; yet in spite of them both the law and public sentiment have already undergone great changes, and still greater changes will follow. It may take years to accomplish this work; to bring about any great reform requires time and a deter, mined purpose on the part of its advocates. Yet I believe the era is not far off when railroads will be limited to their legitimate sphere as common carriers, when they will treat all persons and all places as impartially as does the Government in the mail service, when their chief factor in rate-making will be the cost of service, when they will respect the rights of the public and those of their stockholders, insuring perfect service to the former and fair profits upon the actual value of the lines operated to the latter.

The fact should, finally, not be overlooked that it is in the power of the General Government to prevent many railroad abuses, and especially excessive freight charges, by the improvement of our rivers and harbors. That our water-courses act as levelers of interstate rates is apparent from the fact that railroad rates invariably rise with the freezing of the water-ways and fall with the opening of river and lake navigation. By connecting, wherever feasible, our large Western rivers with the great lakes, the Government could greatly extend the reign of competition in transportation, and thereby keep freight rates within reasonable bounds. Lake transportation even now plays an important role. In 1892 it was not less than 20,000,000,000 ton miles during the season of eight months' duration, and it is almost equal to one-fourth of the total ton mileage of all the railroads in the country for the entire year. The average rate of lake transportation has been reduced to 1.3 mills per ton per mile, which is only about one-seventh of the average railroad freight rate in the United States.

Where the masses hold the sovereign power, there, if anywhere, the welfare of the people should be the supreme law. Violent political commotions never disturb the government whose policy is to secure the greatest good to the greatest number. Thorold Rogers justly remarks that the strength of communism lies in the misconduct of administrations, the sustentation of odious and unjust privileges and the support of what are called vested interests. Lord Coleridge, in a remarkable article published not long ago, recommended a revision of the laws relating to property and contract, in order to facilitate the inevitable transition from feudalism to democracy, and laid down the rule that the laws of property should be made for the benefit of all, and not for the benefit of a class.

During the middle ages, and even up to the beginning of the present century, nearly all the laws on the statute books looked towards the protection of the rights of the feudal lord. Provision was made for the expeditious collection of his dues and a severe punishment of his delinquent debtor. The peasant was forced to labor fifteen hours per day and three hundred and sixty-five days in the year to pay the baron's rentals and sustain life. The law permitted him to be flogged for failing to courtesy the feudal lord, and to be executed for injury to the lord's person, while to kill a peasant was no worse a misdemeanor than to kill his lordship's favorite dog or falcon. In short, all laws were made to protect and perpetuate the wealth and power of the few by impoverishing, humbling and enslaving the masses.

The age of feudalism has given way to an age of democratic liberty, but there is many a feudal feature left in our statutes and many a feudal doctrine is enunciated by our judges and learned expounders of modern jurisprudence. In his decision in the Iowa tariff case Judge Brewer said:

"I read also in the first section of the Bill of Rights of
this State [Iowa] that 'all men are by nature free and equal
and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those
of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring,
possessing and protecting property and pursuing and
obtaining safety and happiness,' and I know that while that
remains as the supreme law of the State, no legislature can,
directly or indirectly, lay its withering or destroying hand
on a single dollar invested in the legitimate business of
transportation."

Had Judge Brewer taken the pains to read on, he would have found in section 2 of the Bill of Rights the following:

"All political power is inherent in the people; government
is instituted for the protection, security and benefit of
the people."

It is strange that the learned Judge failed to see the difference between "men," the creatures of God, "by nature free and equal," and "possessing certain inalienable rights," and corporations, the creatures of man, having no rights except those which the State sees fit to give them. Had the learned Judge perused the whole of the document to which he refers, he would have found in article VIII, section 12, the following provision:

"The General Assembly shall have power to amend or repeal
all laws for the organization or creation of corporations,
or granting of special or exclusive privileges or
immunities, by a vote of two-thirds of each branch of the
General Assembly."

It should thus have been plain to the learned Judge that in Iowa corporations have not human or inalienable rights, and government was not instituted for their special protection, but for the protection, security and benefit of her people. Nor should it be otherwise.

The corporation for pecuniary gain has neither body nor soul. Its corporeal existence is mythical and ethereal. It suffers neither from cold nor from hunger, has neither fear of future punishment nor hope of future reward. It takes no interest in schools or in churches. It knows neither charity nor love, neither pity nor sympathy, neither justice nor patriotism. It is deaf and blind to human woe and human happiness. Its only aim is pecuniary gain, to which it subordinates all else.

Should the State sacrifice the welfare of all her people rather than lay its "withering or destroying" hand on a single dollar of corporate wealth? Are there no human rights, for the protection of which government was established, more sacred than the rights of a wealthy corporation's dollar? Have the people made the judiciary a coördinate branch of the Government in order that it may protect the vested or rather usurped rights of corporations against legislative attempts to curtail them? If the courts so interpret the power which has been delegated to them, they will awake one day to the painful reality that popular convictions of right are more potent than judicial decrees.

It is the duty of the State not so much to defend the so-called vested rights of corporations as to make such just and beneficial laws as will temper inequality, mitigate poverty, protect the weak against the strong, preserve life and health, and, in short, promote the welfare and the happiness of the masses. Constitutions have been made to accomplish these ends, to protect the lives, the liberty and the conscience of human beings, while laws have been sufficient to protect the dollars of corporations. It is a short-sighted policy on the part of the latter to take unfair advantage of their wealth and influence, for "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," is the inexorable law of Providence. There is no dynasty so mighty, no class so privileged, no interest so influential or wealthy as to obtain immunity from its operation.